'however little or much one may know about Him'

Trust, however, implies reliance, commitment, and confidence in the objects... that one is trusting. An element of commitment must be present in trusting Christ for salvation, but it is a commitment to Him, His promise, and His ability to give eternal life to those who believe. The object of faith or trust is the Lord Jesus Christ, however little or much one may know about Him. The issue about which we trust Him is His ability to forgive our sins and take us to heaven.

This quote is from Charles Ryrie in his book, “So Great Salvation” (on page 111-12 or 121, depending on which version you have) and it is agreeable to me. I would personally word things a bit differently than he does. I believe that Charles Ryrie has fallen into the trap of the two-step, supposing that "trust" is a superior word to "believe".

What makes saving faith saving, folks? It is not some extra element added to belief or assent that makes it "super faith". What makes saving faith saving is the object, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ has eternally inexhuastable riches and grace at His disposal. Furthermore, He is qualified and able to eternally save by virtue of His deity, death and resurrection. To add to this, He is willing to give eternal life to all who simply believe in Him.

When it comes to conversations in social settings, I tell people that the two subjects that I enjoy discussing the most are 1) things pertaining to God and the Bible and 2) food. My wife is the Executive Training Coordinator for a chain of gourmet seafood restaurants in San Diego where she is in charge of all the front-end training in their 12 restaurants. As an executive she gets 50% off her party’s bill. It doesn’t matter if it is we two or a group of 15, we get 50% off. I love that, let me tell you friends! I can have gourmet food at half the price! I can get a dozen oysters on the half shell for the price of 6. I am in hog heaven. But I digress. Anyway, on to an illustration.

Let us say that I was walking down the street and someone offered me a free gourmet meal at Tavern on the Green. If I were persuaded that this man could get me a free meal, and I had the time, I surely would take him up on his offer. Something about the man must convince me that he is telling the truth or I would not believe him. Let us say that he was standing out front of the restaurant called Tavern on the Green and what it was that persuaded me to believe in him, that he was authorized, able, and willing to give me a meal absolutely free, was the location where I found him and the clothing he was wearing. Let me explain. He was standing out in front of Tavern on the Green and was wearing a nice, crisp, dress shirt with the “Tavern on the Green” logo, and black, well creased dress slacks.

What persuaded me that this man could give me an absolutely free meal were his physical location and his attire. That is all! I didn’t know anything else about this person but that. But that was all that it took to persuade me that he was telling me the truth and could give me a free meal. I went in and enjoyed a free meal. I did come to find out later that this man was the owner of the restaurant, and some other pertinent facts about him.

Lets rework this illustration a bit. Let us now say that this man who was offering the free meal stated that he was the owner of the restaurant, up front, and explained (after showing his ownership credentials of some form or another) that the restaurant was celebrating its 25th year in business and that he wanted to grace several people with a free meal. I would know much more about this person that was offering this free gift. Still, I went in and had a wonderful time eating a free gourmet meal.

In both of these illustrations, I relied upon the man out front of the restaurant for the free gift he was offering, however little or much I may have known about him. Charles Ryrie states “The object of faith or trust is the Lord Jesus Christ, however little or much one may know about Him.” I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. When the lost read of Jesus in the gospel of John stating that He is the Guarantor of eternal life and resurrection to the believer, and believe in Him as such, Christ saves them, however little or much one may know about Him.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him (pisteuo eis) because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." – John 4:39 (NKJV)

Many of the Samaritans of Sychar “believed in” (pisteuw eis) Jesus based solely on the testimony of the immoral and adulterous woman, who stated, “Can this be the Christ?” and said, “He told me all that I ever did” (see Jn 4:29). They did not know much about Jesus, but the text clearly shows that they exercised saving faith, for it used John’s unique technical phraseology which denotes saving faith everywhere else in his gospel: pisteou eis.

In my first illustration, little did I know that the man offering the free gift of a gourmet meal was the owner of the restaurant. But I believed in him and got a free meal. It turns out that the reason that he was qualified to give such a wonderful gift was that he was the owner who was celebrating 25 years of ownership of that restaurant and was inclined to do something special for a few people.

The one who is uniquely identified as Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, descending from the line of David, and hailing from the tribe of Judah:

1) is God in the flesh
2) died a substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of the world
3) rose again bodily from the dead

In addition to this, He performed great miracles, raised the dead, exercised compassion on the lost, preached good news, taught about God, never sinned, etc.

But Jesus also did something else. He solemnly testified to the fact that He gives life to whomever He wills (Jn 5:21). As such, He determined to give everlasting life to all who simply believe in Him (Jn 1:12; 3:15-16; 5:24; 6:35-40, 47; 11:25-26). Jesus has the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68)! He said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life!” (Jn 6:63).

Jesus makes the radical claim (!!):

“Most solemnly I assert to you, whoever believes in Me has everlasting life!” (Jn 6:47)

Jesus is no liar. He has the words of eternal life. His words are spirit and they are life. He has offered the world an absolutely free gift: eternal life, and has stipulated but one condition for its reception: believing in Him. He will never fail anyone who trusts in Him for that which He freely offers. Jesus can never fall short of His promise.

Whether I knew it or not, the man in my illustration was the owner of the restaurant. I believed him in his offer, took him up on it, and he made good. Jesus will always make good on His promise that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life and will be resurrected, “however little or much one may know about Him”.